The nude cruise that leaves from Orient Beach on the catamaran Tiko Tiko is a highlight for my wife and I when we visit French St. Martin in the Caribbean. The cruise is a one-day trip to a deserted island with drinks and a delicious gourmet lunch. The passengers usually are eight married couples, most returning year after year for the cruise like we do. The night before our very first nude cruise, my wife could not sleep worrying what to wear. The options she considered were surprisingly diverse: (1) wear a cover-up without a bathing suit, (2) remove our clothes on the boat, (3) remove our clothes on the beach, or (4) go "full monte" when we left the car. Our dragon, of course, was the fear of being judged and subsequently teased by the other passengers.

Few areas generate as much anxiety as concerns over how people will judge our bodies. Will they think we are too fat, too thin, too big, too small, too short, too tall, or too weak? Many of us use clothes as a mask to shield us from judgments and criticism. Our bodies remain hidden behind clothes like precious secrets. On a nude cruise there is no place to hide those secrets. Having conquered that fear, we faced a new dilemma: would our fellow passengers think we were wearing the wrong clothes for a nude cruise?

We have laughed many times about our fears on the first nude cruise. We share the story with our companions each time we return for another nude cruise. That is the exhilaration of a nude cruise: complete freedom without inhibition or worry. Just glorious sunshine, laughter and fun. I do not recommend that everyone run around naked. Rather, my point is that we may be sacrificing our freedom and missing several of life's pleasures by hiding our secrets, when openness and honesty would produce huge quantities of joy and laughter. The nude cruise has produced such joy for us, even if we still wonder what to wear.

We sacrifice our freedom and risk missing life's pleasures when
we hide ourselves. On the other hand, openness and honesty
bring joy, laughter and intimacy into our relationships.